EARLY RENAISSANCE ART 1300 - 1500

The course covers Renaissance painting (with some sculpture and tapestries) in Italy and Northern Europe from Giotto up to 15th century masters like Masaccio, Fra Angelico, Van Eyck, Piero della Francesca, Botticelli and Mantegna. Subjects will be fully illustrated with slides (including numerous close-up shots of individual details). Descriptive lists of all slides will be given together with handouts of contemporary Renaissance documents (e.g. contracts between patrons and artists) of direct relevance to the subjects studied. As well as studying the movement towards greater naturalism in art, we shall also study the use of religious and mythological symbols and what art can tell us of the societies who created it.
Questions and discussion will be encouraged.